Many applications for power semiconductors require fast switching devices having low power dissipation. Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,148, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a high voltage (600-1000 volts or higher), fast damper diode comprising P+, P−, N−, N+ layer wherein the P− and N− layers are of substantially equal thickness, each greater than about 50 μm, and have substantially equal doping density of less than about 1015 atoms/cm3. Lutz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,747,872, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a fast power diode comprising P+, N−, and N+ doping zones, and recombination centers formed by electron irradiation and platinum diffusion in the N− and N+ zones.
Among the measures of diode performance are the following: rated forward current (IF), forward voltage drop (VF), transient forward recovery time (TFR), transient turn-on peak overshoot voltage (TOPO), diode reverse blocking voltage (BVR), transient reverse recovery time (TRR), and unclamped inductive switching (UIS), which is a measure of the amount of avalanche energy that can be dissipated in the device without destructive failure. BVR and UIS can be increased by increasing the resistivity and/or the thickness of the diode depletion region, but this typically results in also increasing TFR and TOPO. TRR can be lowered by the introduction of recombination centers, but this also generally leads to an increase in VF. TOPO and VF may be reduced and IF increased by increasing the diode area, i.e., die size, but this is undesirable both from the view point of cost and the trend toward reducing device size.
Because the rapid switching of high currents can result in the generation by parasitic inductance of voltage spikes that reach the breakdown voltage of a device, there is an ongoing need for power semiconductor devices in switching applications, for example, where the dissipation of large amounts of avalanche energy without damage is required. The present invention meets this need.